


Changed for the Better

by HMS_Chill



Category: The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue Series - Mackenzi Lee
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cuddling, Fluff and Angst, M/M, just so much cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-21 01:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21291293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMS_Chill/pseuds/HMS_Chill
Summary: Prompt: While living in the poor end of London, Monty sees his family. They don't recognise him. He's not sure how to feel about that,
Relationships: Henry "Monty" Montague/Percy Newton
Comments: 25
Kudos: 114





	Changed for the Better

"Monty, Darling? Will you tell me what's wrong now?" Percy asks into the darkness of their little flat. They're in bed together, Monty lying with his ear uncovered as they wind down for bed. Percy's hand is in his hair, and Monty would have been happy to drift off and not address the way he'd acted when he got home from work today. It was embarrassing, to say the least, He'd followed Percy around the flat like a rich woman's lap dog, looking for any excuse to touch him without being overwhelmingly obnoxious.

"What do you mean?" Maybe it's something else. Maybe they won't have to talk about today; maybe they'll just move on and go to sleep.

"Something's wrong. You've been quiet ever since you got home."

"It's nothing. I just... I saw my father today."

"You what?" Percy pulls back a bit, so Monty does, too, his eyes falling automatically. When he answers, it's directed to their blankets.

"I saw my father. I was... I was down sort of near the Exchange. He was getting out of a sedan chair as I was crossing a street. He... he didn't recognize me."

Percy pulls him in close again, and Monty lets out a shaking breath as he cuddles in. He realizes dimly that his hands are shaking.

"I just... I don't know how to feel. I... It was strange. He had my mother and the Goblin with him, I think. I didn't look too closely. I... I hid from him. I thought for sure he would hit me, or try to drag me back to Cheshire with him... I couldn't go back there, Perce. I thought I was fine, but now that I've had this, and we've built a life together, even if it is sort of shit sometimes, I can't go back to him. I can't be his son again."

"You don't have to. You're not his anymore, you're mine and your own." Percy's hand is back in his hair, twisting it gently around his fingers. 

"I was so scared," Monty mumbles, hiding his face in Percy's chest, "I thought... I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd do if he took me back, or what would happen to you or Felicity, or if he found one of you instead and took you away from me. I can't lose you, Perce, either of you." Percy's hand moves from stroking to simply holding Monty's head close.

"You won't. You'll always have us, I promise."

"But what if... What if he comes back? What if we see him again? He didn't recognize me, but that's... my face is different. You don't want me to say it's ugly, but it... I don't look like myself. You and Felicity do. He'd recognize you, and he might... I can't lose you."

"It's okay. You won't. Honestly, I think my aunt and uncle are probably glad to have me gone, so it wouldn't make sense for your father to try to bring me back, and when was the last time he went to Edinburgh? Besides, from the maps I've looked at, the new construction happening in Edinburgh should keep him away from her. Their Exchange isn't between New Town and Cowgate, and with North Bridge, he should be able to pass right over her head and won't ever have to go down to her street. There are plenty of ways for the rich to avoid Cowgate, so we don't have to worry about her. We're alright."

Monty nods, but he doesn't move his face from Percy's chest. Percy sighs, rubbing his back gently, then asks, "What else is bothering you?"

"He didn't recognize me. I'm his son, and he didn't know me. I... I don't think any of them did, and it's not that I expected the Goblin to know me, and I don't even know if I wanted them to recognize me, really, but they... they're my family, sort of. I don't... I don't really know what they are to me anymore, I guess."

"That's alright. Families... families are strange, especially for us, and I think it's okay to not know how you feel about yours. But we have our own family, too. We've got each other, and Felicity and Scipio and his crew. So it's not... It's not that you don't need your family or shouldn't miss what they could have been, but just... you don't need them."

"I know. It..." Monty flops onto his back suddenly, staring at their cracking ceiling. Percy reaches down to grab a hand and rests the other on Monty's chest as he continues. "It's not that I miss them, or think I need them, not really. I don't even think I was sad they didn't know me. It was just strange. It's strange to realize you're different, even when it's a good different. I don't... it's not that I miss the person I was; he was awful."

"Be nice, Monty. You're talking about the man I fell in love with."

"Percy, Darling. I adore you and know you can do no wrong, but you fell in love with a rude, selfish idiot."

"I fell in love with a man who is loyal to a fault and would do anything for the people he loves who just so happened to be a bit of a cad at times. And I'm in love with a man who is getting to be more and more loyal and kind every day." Percy kisses Monty's cheek, and Monty gives him a sheepish smile, then props himself up on an elbow. Percy rolls onto his side and twists their ankles together.

"That's the thing. I'm getting better, I mean, as a person, but it's strange to be different. It's almost scary. What if I don't stop changing?"

"I don't think any of us ever completely stop changing Darling."

"But what... what if I change into someone you can't love anymore?" Monty's voice has gotten suddenly small. He's never really been afraid of who he is before, but he's scared now. He can't lose Percy. It would destroy him. Yet Percy has pulled back a bit, and Monty tenses up until Percy's hand makes its way up his neck to cup the scarred side of his face, the side of his face that he wishes no one could ever see. Monty closes his eyes, trying to focus on the feeling of Percy's hand tethering them together.

"I don't think that's possible. Could I become someone you don't love?" Percy asks softly, and Monty's eyes fly open. He puts a hand to Percy's face, looking directly into Percy's eyes so that it's impossible for him to miss a single word.

"Never. I could never, ever stop loving you, no matter how you change. But you... you're you. You're Percy Newton; you're wonderful and always have been. I'm... I'm me." He lets his eyes drop a bit, ad his hand slips from Percy's cheek to rest on his chest. Under his fingers, Monty can feel Percy's heart beating, and he focuses his attention on that. Gently, allowing him plenty of time to pull away, Percy puts a hand under his chin and moves his face up until their eyes meet.

"You're my Monty, and you are the great love of my life. No matter how you change, you will always be my Monty, and I will always love you. The more time we spend together, the more we'll change, but that change... I think it'll bring us closer together, I truly do. And even if it doesn't, I'll admire and love you. I have for years, and I'm not changing that now."

Monty kisses him then, finally, long and slow. Percy pulls him in closer, twinning their legs and pulling their bodies flush together. When they pull apart, Percy rolls a bit to let Monty lie on top of him, his deaf side pressed to Percy's chest.

"I love you," Monty says softly, "I'm glad we have our own family."

"I'm glad, too. I love you, and I can't wait to change with you. Someday, we'll go back to cause chaos at one of your father's parties, and he won't recognize either of us."

Monty laughs, and he drifts off to sleep wrapped in the arms of the only family he truly needs.

**Author's Note:**

> Someday, I'm going to write 'Percy's Guide to Loving Someone Who's Touch Starved and Experiences Love through Touch but also has PTSD About Being Touched' and then I'll be able to refer to that instead of looking frantically through my own writing like 'is this too fast? Does Monty feel safe? Does he feel loved?'  
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Anyway, this was inspired both by the prompt and by the fact that I'm studying 'Romeo and Juliet' for the first time in seven years and, mid-cooking, was hit with the sudden realization/existential crisis that I am a drastically different person than I was my freshman year of high school.  
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As always, I'm [HMS-Chill](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/hms-chill) on tumblr for fic stuff; if you wanna chat either there or here please do! Let me know what you like! What you hate! If I made a typo (please god let me know if I made a typo)! I love talking to y'all about what I make! And if you have research questions about a project you're working on that's great, too! I'll help! I want to talk to y'all about your art!


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